Vapor deposition apparatuses are configured to form a thin film by heating a substance such as a metal or a nonmetal in vacuum to evaporate or sublimate the substance, and condensing the vapor on a substrate. The apparatuses are used in various fields.
For example, an organic electroluminescent (EL) display device providing full color display typically includes organic EL light-emitting layers in three colors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B), and displays images by selectively emitting light using the layers with the desired luminance values. The patterns of the organic EL light-emitting layers are transferred by, for example, a vapor deposition apparatus.
One method having been developed recently utilizes a vapor deposition mask smaller than the substrate to carry out vapor deposition while moving the substrate relative to the vapor deposition mask and the vapor deposition source, so that organic EL light-emitting layers are formed on the substrate that is larger than the vapor deposition mask (e.g. Patent Literatures 1 and 2).